I had to return and play slightly of Chrono Set off simply to verify my eyes weren’t deceiving me concerning the apparent similarities between that basic RPG and Sea of Stars. This brand-new but old-school sport doesn’t current practically as a lot time-hopping or world-traveling as its clearest inspiration, however its seafaring journey nonetheless has loads of twists and turns that replenish a stable 30 hours of linear spelunking. Wealthy and sometimes humorous character-driven tales wrap up with stunning twists that give weight to the story and supply a cause for its visually wild and mechanically fascinating boss fights. On the identical time, there’s simply not that a lot depth to its fight choices, and its 16-bit graphics usually fulfill nostalgic cravings moderately than inspiring shock and awe another time.
By its identify alone, Sea of Stars could instantly sound like a generic knockoff of its forebears. The opening scenes current a narrative about two decently written albeit often overly talkative teenage protagonists who set off to save lots of the world by skipping over to a neighboring island to kill off the large dangerous as soon as and for all. Thankfully, saving the world is rarely so easy, and the story’s true kind begins to take form earlier than too lengthy. The brilliance of that is what number of instances it twists and turns in a totally sudden route earlier than the actual ending, and I’m happy by the way it unfolds right into a story concerning the significance of every particular person.
It conveys the story competently, with out frontloading an excessive amount of exposition after letting you unfastened inside its first hour or so. I’m impressed by the way it introduces its villains, magic, and the stakes of its world organically, and if you wish to know extra you possibly can merely return to camp and converse to the touring bard to listen to them recount the tales concerning the world and its denizens that came about there.
Communicate to the touring bard to listen to them recount the tales that came about there.
Talking of development, Sea of Stars excels in its degree design. This map is cut up up into islands which are navigated in an overworld that connects completely different zones with no fight between them, very like within the basic Chrono Set off. However when you get right into a zone, there are sometimes tons of fight encounters and puzzles that replenish the house between bigger story moments and boss battles. You get to struggle an enormous world-eating kraken, and a robotic queen that transforms into an enormous handgun! And most of them really feel like a well-balanced problem moderately than one thing it’s a must to grind to beat.
There’s an admirable quantity of selection as effectively. One notably cool zone had me tumbling down a sequence of cascading waterfalls adorned by beautiful crops and flowers, whereas one other had me exploring a clockwork fortress and teaming up with its immortal residents to face an enormous boss. All of it did a implausible job of sucking me in and never letting go, very like the RPGs that impressed it.
The puzzles are easy however usually require an honest quantity of thought. There are some difficult block-pushing puzzles and a few that require you to recollect a sure sequence of triggers to erect platforms in a sure order so you possibly can climb as much as the following doorway. Sea of Stars additionally makes nice use of day and night time mechanics, usually requiring you to shift the time of day with the shoulder buttons to shine daylight or moonlight on particular nodes that unlock components of the map.
It’s cool that this world’s NPCs reply to your actions and your rising energy as literal superheroes, and it’s nifty to ultimately achieve the flexibility to fly – that permits you to transfer across the overworld and end up quests with out the hindrance of returning to your ship. Sure, Sea of Stars has a ship, however you received’t spend an excessive amount of time crusing round because it principally simply serves to attach main factors of curiosity between story occasions. The world’s most fascinating facet places, similar to the numerous Solstice Shrines dotting the map, solely change into accessible to go to when you unlock flight.
I am particularly impressed by how the protagonists’ solstice warrior powers are represented in fight.
However I’m particularly impressed by how the protagonists’ solstice warrior powers are represented in fight. Zale is a blade dancer attuned to the hearth magic of the solar, whereas Valere is a lunar monk attuned to the ice magic of the moon. Whereas going through a number of of the marketing campaign’s greatest bosses and their minions, they’re usually the one two social gathering members able to dealing harm with their primary assaults and spells. This pissed off me at first, however because the marketing campaign went on I started to know its pivotal lock-pattern mechanic. Battles are absolutely turn-based, however enemies liven issues up by telegraphing their upcoming assaults in patterns that may be damaged with assaults of particular sorts. As an illustration, you possibly can interrupt an enemy powering up a spell by hitting them 3 times with hearth assaults, breaking their focus, and staggering them till their subsequent transfer.
Afterward, these patterns develop extra advanced and require a mixture of assaults out of your teammates, and it’s fascinating how the opposite accessible social gathering members contribute to those fights even with out the identical harm output. This usually lends their distinctive preventing kinds to group combos that may inflict a number of forms of harm and break sure locks after the combo bar is powered up by common assaults. This momentum is helped alongside by primary assaults that restore MP and may probably launch bubbles of stay mana that your lively social gathering member can take in so as to add efficiency to the following transfer.
Every social gathering member additionally will get their very own distinctive final transfer which features equally to summons in a Last Fantasy sport; displaying a cool cinematic earlier than dealing an enormous quantity of injury. They’re not as exploitable, although, since they depend on their very own gauge that builds up over the course of battles.
Sea of Stars’ fight system does not get a lot deeper than that.
It’s nice that you would be able to have an effect on the stream of fight by urgent a button to important hit, important heal, or block an incoming assault because it lands. I discovered it satisfying that the majority later battles required me to hit these boosts constantly as a way to really feel honest. However it took some time to get the hold of as a result of their response window is frustratingly brief, and with out utilizing a particular relic that shoots a flare every time you land a lift, it’s not at all times clear precisely once you’re supposed to reply. That’s particularly onerous to pin down when every animation has a unique level of affect. As an illustration, one character jumps round earlier than touchdown their strike on an enemy, and it’s straightforward to faucet too quickly or too late until you memorize this complete factor. Even so, it’s nonetheless extraordinarily satisfying to tug off sure strikes that require you to react to those finicky home windows.
Total although, I’m dissatisfied Sea of Stars’ fight system doesn’t get a lot deeper than that. With solely six potential teammates to play with – and only some expertise and combos whole – I discovered myself working by the identical methods time and again by the tip. Usually, essentially the most enjoyable a part of development was getting higher at exact timing. The marketing campaign wraps up simply earlier than the restricted fight choices overstay their welcome, however I’d have favored a number of extra spells or combos per character to grasp.
In its favor, there’s plenty of sturdy nostalgia vibes right here. I grew up taking part in the 16-bit SNES, GBA, and PS1 classics – basically, the great outdated days of RPGs – and Sea of Stars hits all the best notes to make me lengthy for these good outdated instances. Its zones are different and colourful, that includes emotive soundtracks composed by none apart from Yasunori Mitsuda and Rainbowdragoneyes. The previous produced the soundtracks for Chrono Set off and Xenogears – to call a number of – and his distinctive type brings again recollections of these outdated video games. Every space exudes a novel persona, due to catchy tunes that masterfully seize their essence.
Every little thing about Sea of Stars’ feel and appear is clear and approachable, and every of its menus is straightforward to navigate. Even its facet quests are straightforward to complete when you method the endgame, due to a handy map that tells you which ones areas nonetheless have extra issues to do and discover. Save factors and campfires are scattered liberally, and it was nice to by no means have to fret about autosaves – they’re positioned precisely the place you want them: earlier than powerful fights.
It’s neat that you would be able to simply return to your camp from the overworld or from any campfire, the place you possibly can converse to key characters and craft meals for the following journey. I additionally favored the truth that therapeutic gadgets take the type of meals moderately than generic potions. Cooking elements are straightforward to seek out, and there’s an actual profit to discovering new recipes and taking the time to mess around with Sea of Stars’ competent fishing system as a way to preserve your pantry stocked – notably as a result of every merchandise has a unique impact, similar to therapeutic the entire social gathering’s mana or reviving a single teammate. Since you possibly can solely carry 10 meals gadgets directly, it does add an additional layer of consideration when selecting which gadgets to hold in your loadout, nevertheless it by no means feels unbalanced.
I solely want there have been extra methods to customise my social gathering’s playstyle, given that every character solely has a number of items of kit accessible to them. Distinctive equipment are sparse, and people we now have lack a lot oomph. This implies there’s even much less customization than there may be in Last Fantasy 16, and that may make the RPG components of Sea of Stars really feel weaker for anyone who doesn’t discover themselves invested within the story.
Sea of Stars is a superb tribute RPG that channels the most effective components of its ‘90s-era forebears like Chrono Set off, Last Fantasy 6, and even Star Ocean: The Second Story. Due to that, it’s honest to say that its world, graphical type, and mechanics aren’t wholly authentic, however there are sufficient fascinating twists in its 30-hour story to make for a wealthy and satisfying expertise of its personal advantage. This isn’t simply nostalgia fodder. That mentioned, its twitchy fight will be tough to get a deal with on, and when you do, it solely stays fascinating for thus lengthy earlier than its restricted customization choices make it begin to really feel just a bit repetitive. That’s made up for by a powerful soundtrack, an approachable and endearing story, and a large variety of enjoyable zones and boss fights that make this a visit value taking.